nice setup for anyone looking to get into tri, but, you need to remember that you would also need to training gear for everyday, like slix swimwear – they have great guys knee length swimmers perfect dual purpose wear for both swimming and riding, and hey even running!

If you’re considering doing your first triathlon you’re probably wondering what you need to get started. Since triathlon is swimming bike and running all in one it can definitely get expensive. After all, you need the equipment for 3 sports just to compete. Races can also be expensive so if you’re new to the sport you may not have a budget to go out and buy everything that you’ld like.

First figure out what triathlon distance you’re going to do. This will have lot to do with what equipment you’ll need. For anything longer than an Olympic Distance Triathlon the more likely you’ll want to get specific triathlon gear.

The gear that is mandetory to compete is the following:

goggles

a bike, preferably a road bike or triathlon bike

helmet

sunglasses

running shoes

Those are the bare bones minimum. You could easily spend tens of thousands of dollars but if you’re just…

You may remember a post of mine from a few weeks ago, where I declared it was a marathon not a sprint – and I was talking about life in general, as well as Operation Threadbare. Well, today it was a sprint. A sprint triathlon to be precise.

The triathlon – my first – was the culmination of about 4 weeks of preparation, and it has in fact been crucial to my sanity through Operation Threadbare. How? Well, the training has provided me with an outlet for my frustrations at not being able to shop, as well as kept me busy. Plus I’ve had great fun buying new kit legitimately (although some of my readers thought I was stretching the rules a little at the tri-suit).

I’d chosen an early June sprint triathlon aimed at novices. The weather was supposed to be sunny. It was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend…

When the first people you see as you pitch up in the early hours of the morning to a former colliery site are your best tri buddies down from Scotland for the day, Lesley, Bob and Al, your collywobbles disappear in a mountain of hugs and you know you’re about to have a fantastic day.

I have had this event in my mind for a year. Last year I watched friends and my PT Ian taking part and I thought, “I could do that”. It was once of the first races I entered this year, knowing I wanted to move up in the world of triathlon and to do that I had to tackle the open water and my first true sprint distance event.

In other words, it’s a pretty big deal. As big as my first Great North Run, bigger than my sub 2 half. Basically the only thing…

I mentioned in my Ironman Augusta 70.3 Goals post that I’d made a goal to get at least two open water swims in a month. It sounds like it shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish, but I’ve had a really hard time getting open water practice in during past training cycles.

I’d heard about the Mad Dogs Wednesday night swims at Pass-a-Grill Beach from several different people but have never made it out. I could make excuses about the weather, the traffic and blah blah blah. The reality of it is, I’ve just never gone.

I had planned to swim at the YMCA pool after work yesterday and made a last-minute decision to try to make it out to the beach for the swim. I left my office at 5:00pm sharp and arrived at the beach at 5:55pm. Just enough time to throw on my suit and walk down to the beach.